2.5 million elderly people without pensions and social insurance allowances are given increased social pension benefits
According to the Ministry of Health, currently, there are about 2.5 million elderly people eligible for social pension benefits.
According to Article 31 of Decree 335/2026/ND-CP of the Government, effective from today (October 5, 2026), the social pension level is adjusted from 500,000 VND to 540,000 VND/person/month, an increase of 40,000 VND per month, equivalent to 8%.
This allowance is for the elderly without a monthly pension or social insurance allowance. Currently, there are about 2.5 million elderly people who are eligible for this policy, according to statistics from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Accordingly, people from 75 years old or older, meeting the conditions according to regulations, are eligible for policies. People from 70 years old to under 75 years old from poor and near-poor households are also eligible if they meet the conditions according to regulations.
According to calculations by the Ministry of Health, the level of 540,000 VND only meets about 24.5% of rural poverty standards and 19.2% of urban poverty standards.
To receive the allowance, the eligible person or guardian prepares a document according to the form, and sends it directly to the commune-level People's Committee where they reside, via postal service or online.
Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier, the Chairman of the Commune-level People's Committee shall consider, verify and standardize information with the National Population Database, then decide and make payments. The benefit period is calculated from the month the Chairman of the Commune-level People's Committee signs the decision. In case of not meeting the conditions, the applicant is allowed to respond in writing and state the reason.
In addition to allowances from the central budget, some localities have additional support policies for social pension beneficiaries. According to regulations, based on socio-economic conditions and budget balancing capacity, provincial-level People's Committees can submit to the same-level People's Councils to decide on higher levels of support than the Government's regulations.
The Ministry of Health is coordinating with the Ministry of Home Affairs to study a plan to amend and supplement the Law on Social Insurance, which proposes gradually reducing the age for enjoying social pension benefits to 70 years old, in accordance with socio-economic conditions and the ability to balance the budget for each period.
According to the Ministry of Health, the continued reduction in the age of enjoying social pension benefits needs to be comprehensively studied, based on assessing the number of beneficiaries, policy impacts, budget resources and the sustainability of the social security system.
Social pension is a new level of social security included in the amended Law on Social Insurance, applied from July 1, 2025.
In 2025, about 2.5 million elderly people will receive social pension benefits, with a total budget of nearly 7,000 billion VND.
The whole country currently has nearly 16.5 million elderly people. By the end of the first quarter of 2026, the number of people receiving monthly pensions and social insurance allowances is about 3.53 million people (including about 2.35 million people receiving pensions and 530,000 people receiving social insurance allowances). It is expected that by the end of 2026, the number of beneficiaries will be more than 3.54 million people.
Thus, in 2025, only about 6 million people (equivalent to 42% of the elderly) after retirement age will have pensions, monthly social insurance allowances and social pension allowances.
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